23rd June 2012 – I finally finished the top bit of the bulkhead between the bedroom and the wheelhouse. It took some to get the curve, bend the metal and weld everything to a solid construction.
20th June 2012 – The wall or bulkhead is nearly finished. I cut the last pieces of metal and started welding them. Welding on a partly converted boat, which is full of tools, covers, wood and dust is always a risk. I was very carefully after last month’s fire in the engine room. It took me some time to get a result since I had to bend a small plate over a short distance. Using enough clamps is helping!
19th June 2012 – With the little time I had today, I managed to drill a few holes for the framework of the bedroom. I have to keep moving the ballast all the time. I knew when I got it, it was to early. At the other hand it was free and I had to take it then.
I lowered the wooden frame of the bed to see how much space i’m loosing. It seems to be acceptable.
18th June 2012 – I’m still struggling with the bed. I decided to make a wooden frame with the same dimensions of a normal bed. It gives me then a real impression on the size and the room space. The normal trick i’m using is chalking the bed or furniture on the floor. Only this time, I can’t. There is to much stuff laying around.
16th June 2012 – The hardest room for planning is the bedroom. It is a small area, there are a lot of technical issues and I have no idea how to design it. The biggest issue is the size of the bed. I want to build a normal sized bed. I removed some of the previous made paneling. I will turn the bed in the other direction.
15th June 2012 – The wheelhouse floor must keep the smell and fumes out from the engine room underneath it. It’s just welding meters and meters of L-shape on the floor and the side of the cabin.
The exhaust for the engine is still leaking. I want to put a water cooled exhaust to have less noise and smoke. It took me a few hours to cut up the old one and take it from underneath the bedroom floor. I discovered three holes in the pipes and two more in the silencer.
14th June 2012 – The wall between the kitchen in the wheelhouse and the bedroom is in metal. It is an extension of the bulkhead. I’m welding everything together to strengthen the ship as much as I can. I have the metal, I can do some welding, it is ballast for the boat and she becomes stronger…
In the late afternoon, I got bored of engine room work and welding. I took some gray paint I had left from the Watergeus and painted the roof bits of the Hornblower.
13th June 2012
12th June 2012 – I’ve started raising the fuel tanks. I dropped them in the engine room a month ago. I should have made the supports before lowering them, something I really regret now! It took me all day to create a solution.
9th June 2012 – Sill busy. I’m working on several projects at the same time, helping people around. I’m still updating the pages of the Watergeus.
Today I went to Oosterhout, helping a friend sorting out his new yacht. It’s an eighties built yacht with a classic look. Metal hull and a wooden top construction.
8th June 2012 – I’m working in Ghent converting a spits barge.
7th June 2012 – We left at six o’clock and arrived three hours later on the mooring. Everything went well till I touched a 380v cable and hurt myself…
The rest of they day I decided to keep it easy and relax…
7th June 2012 – I’m back from the yard! The Watergeus is back on her mooring for the next couple of years. I’m trying to update my website as soon as I can…
6th June 2012: I have no experience on mooring a ship on a tidal river. They gave me some advice at the yard, but every few hours I woke up to adjust my ropes. One of the guys was afraid the front bollard wouldn’t hold the current, so I added a few more ropes.
The crew arrived at eleven o’clock and we started at one. We had to wait for the right tide. It was a nice and relaxing journey. The weather was not to bad. No rain and no wind. Sadly enough no sun as well…
Late in the evening, we made it to to Beernem where I would stay for one night.
5th June 2012 – The shaft was fixed in the morning. We were lowered in the water at four o’clock. They had to wait for the tide before launching a ship in the water. Another ship was next to me. They had to lower it in the water before I could go.
While I had to wait, the crane people lifted my anchor so she is out of the water. The big skylight from the Frantsis is now underneath my hatches. It is looking better like this.
